Shadow of Night

I just finished Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (for some reason, I mix up Deborah with Diana, the character in the book) last night. This is the second book in the All Souls Trilogy, the first being A Discovery of Witches, which came out last year.

This is a new book, so there will be some spoilers. You have been warned.

Shadow of Night picks up exactly where A Discovery of Witches left off. There is no back story in the beginning, which I enjoyed. It hadn't been a long time since I read ADOW, so I was able to remember who each character was with out a refresher.

Diana and Matthew (witch and vampire) time walk back to the Elizabethan era of England. There is a lot of History in this book from this time. You travel from England, to France, back to England, to Prague, then finally back to England. There is a lot of information in this book, but it doesn't beat you over the head with it. It was paced well and the flash forwards helped out as well to keep track of the characters that were left in the present.

Diana and Matthew time walk back in time so that she can find a witch that can help her understand her ability, since she has been spell bound as a child, she has no proper knowledge of magic. She and Matthew also want to find a manuscript that may hold answers to how where vampires, witches, and daemons come from. However, there time in past extends longer then they want and get involved more and more into the past and what is going on in history and soon anomalies start happening in the present.

I will say that this book isn't for every one, but I did enjoy it. I actually liked it more then the first. I thought A Discovery of Witches was a more mature and educated version of Twilight for a time. Wealthy, good looking vampire interested by an ordinary girl, or so he thinks and can't shake her from his mind. He proceeds to stalk her, they bicker, then fall in love even with adversaries closing in. This book however moved past that thought for me. The ending did leave me with questions, in particular to one character that was in the present. The flash forwards didn't give us much insight to the people left behind. To read!